


Angel Baby

by HappyFunBallXD



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, Minor Violence, violence to people currently in a child's body
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-11
Updated: 2012-12-11
Packaged: 2017-11-20 21:02:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/589604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HappyFunBallXD/pseuds/HappyFunBallXD
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Using grace left in the DVD given to the brothers, Gabriel manages to come back from the dead. Unfortunately there was only enough grace to scrape together a child's body. Dean, on his own after Sam's leap into the Cage, finds himself with a tiny ex-archangel. Gabriel wants Dean to help him get to the other angels, to get enough grace to change back to his normal form, but Cas and the others haven't answered Dean for months. In the meantime, Dean's stuck taking care of the kid, from trips to Wal-Mart, to diners, to a King of Hell or two. It seems like it should be enough to make him lose his mind. So why does he find himself enjoying it so much?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> For the Debriel Minibang on LJ.

Things weren't looking too good.

Okay, so compared to the Apocalypse- That- Damn- Near- Was, things were great. Fan- fucking- tastic. It's hard to beat having a continued existence, especially after almost fucking it up royally.

  
But things could have wound up a lot better, especially for someone who saved the entire goddamned human race.

  
Dean had tried at playing house with Lisa and Ben, he really had. It was important to honor the promise he made to Sam, of course, but it was also something he had actually wanted. He enjoyed it, having a kid look up to him and getting to be a part of them growing up. And having someone to wake up to every morning was a lot more awesome than he'd given it credit for in his one- night- stand days. But thirty years of habit was hard to break. He kept the house warded, despite Lisa's protests that company would find it and think they were some kind of Satanists. That was an ironic moment if Dean had ever heard one. He also found himself looking up mysterious activities in the nearby papers, and occasionally an interesting possible lead on getting Sam back. He'd promised he wouldn't try, but that didn't mean he couldn't get a few ideas every now and again. Not like anything was working anyway.

  
Sam was a whole different problem altogether. It was a wound that didn't ever scab over. It was the very reason he'd made his deal the first time around. Life without Sammy, his little brother, was a constant ache. At least before, when Sam was at college, he was passably content knowing the kid was doing okay. This time he knew for a fact that his brother was getting roasted by the two most powerful archangels in existence, who were probably pissed to-- pardon the expression-- Hell and back that they'd lost their change at their epic cage match.

  
And Adam too. His poor little half- brother, who hadn't known what he was getting himself into, plucked out of his heaven to spend eternity in a pit worse than Hell. Dean had failed the kid, there was no other way to put it. All his dad had wanted for Adam was to stay out of the life he'd had no choice but to drag his other boys into. And Dean couldn't even manage to keep that up; he'd plopped Adam right into the middle of it, and even worse, without the tactical training that John had given him and Sam. Basically defenseless.

  
He'd lost his two baby brothers to the devil and an archangel, and he was the one to survive. He'd read somewhere about survivor's guilt, probably from Sam. And needless to say, Dean Winchester had one epic case of it.

  
Cas didn't help matters. The angel had flown the coop without so much as a by your leave. Dean couldn't really blame him too much. He had his mojo back, and his house needed cleaning up after the monster party his siblings had thrown. Dean could understand that. But still, it would've been nice to have someone around, even if he'd never admit it. Lisa was great, and more compassionate than most would be, considering the circumstances. 

  
But in the end, it wasn't enough for either of them. Lisa needed someone a little more... normal. And Dean needed something a little less normal. They parted amicably enough, and Dean promised to come by and visit, to see her and Ben on occasion. And then Dean found himself back on the road, this time without the rest of Team Free Will he'd come to count on to back him up. The only one who really understood anything was Bobby, but he had enough on his plate with keeping the sad list of remaining hunters alive. Times were hard for those that dealt with the supernatural; the fight against Lucifer and the angels had taken more than a few of their ranks, and now more things needed ganked than they had people to gank them. It was part of what had finally pushed Dean over the edge to start hunting again. Promise or not, there's no way Sam would've been happy knowing he sat around while people needed his help. But Bobby was busy keeping them organized and alive and fighting, so he definitely had no time to offer pep talks to Dean anymore. Dean understood completely; the younger hunter left him alone for the most part, taking on simpler cases and doing his own research. Sam's laptop proved to be more useful for him than a porn finder after all.

  
He was on one of those simpler cases, a poltergeist near Lexington, Kentucky, when the whole thing came to a crest. He'd taken down the pissed off spirit with only a few cuts and a black eye to show for it. He was back at the motel, stashing the more deadly weapons in the Impala's false bottom, when he found it. A small, unassuming DVD that had been tossed in the trunk for lack of anything better to do with it at the time. One given to him by a now- dead archangel, who'd set the plan in motion that saved the world.

  
Gabriel. Now there was another problem he hadn't let himself think about. Gabriel was... a jackass of the highest caliber, annoying, enraging and drove Dean to fits of violence on occasion, but he'd been a part of Team Free Will as much as the rest of them. He'd stood up when it counted, and for all Dean had complained, he respected that. Gabriel had been asked to do the one thing Dean could never have done, to kill his own brother, and Dean hated with every fiber of his being to be the one making that speech. Hypocrisy was not something he prided himself in.  And afterward, after the battle at Elysian Fields, there hadn't even been time to stop and think. Gabriel was gone, Lucifer was still kicking, and after they hadn't heard from the archangel a week later, Cas confirmed that his brother hadn't made it. And with dealing with the end of the world, Dean hadn't really let himself stop and thing about it. Just like with Ellen and Jo. It broke his heart to see all these people go, but if he had really stopped to focus on it, he wouldn't have gotten back up, and there had been too much at stake to get taken down by grief.

  
He kept the DVD in his hands as he returned to his room, turning it over restlessly in his fingers. He'd always liked Gabriel's style, he'd told him that on their first meeting, between hunter and trickster, even if he was a bit of an annoying douche. The angel- turned- trickster had a sense of humor-- dark, unique and most of the time particularly twisted-- but it was rare in their business, and even rarer for an angel. Sometimes he found himself missing Gabriel just as much as the others.

  
Dean felt a sudden surge of rage, bending the DVD case in his hands until it warped and snapped in two. He'd had it with this. Why should he sit here in a crappy motel room and feel responsible for everyone he'd lost in this stupid war? He knew he wasn't to blame, not really. All the friends he'd fought with had made their sacrifices for the good of humankind, to stop a common enemy.  
And yet, sometimes he felt as if he'd stabbed each one of them individually. He'd tried his best, tried everything he could think of to keep them safe. They'd won, but most of them hadn't lived to see it. Even archangels weren't immune to death- by- Winchester association. Hell, not even Winchesters were immune to their own curse.

  
So now, here he was. Alone, fighting petty fights and withdrawn from everyone, human, angel and even demon alike. He tossed the broken case in the trash, grabbing the half- empty bottle he'd left on the table from the previous night. He was going to sleep, and self- medicating seemed to be the way to go.

  
oOoOo

  
The first thing Dean noticed after waking up the next morning- afternoon? who knows- was the splitting headache. Okay, so maybe the whole 'drink yourself to sleep' routine wasn't the best idea. But he'd finished the case already, so he didn't have anything else to do today. At least he had time to relax and nurse a hangover. His head was pounding, like he could actually feel the pulse throbbing through his temples. He hadn't been this hung over since the first weeks after the Almost- Apocalypse.

  
The second thing he noticed was the sunlight, streaming in through the open window. He frowned, opening his eyes blearily against the light to stare at it. Which, first of all, bad idea when it feels like a T- Rex is gnawing your skull open. But he blinked a few times, trying to clear his muddled head; hunter's instincts coming to the foreground, because he knew for a fact that window had been closed when he went to bed. And while he'd been pretty out of it last night, it wasn't bad enough to lose time.

  
The third thing he noticed, as he sat up to investigate the window, was the new, warm lump curled up to him under the cheap motel comforters. A lump that hadn't been there last night when he'd finally drifted off. He definitely wasn't drunk enough to hook up and forget it. So that probably explained the open window. Slowly, Dean reached for the knife under his pillow, his other hand grabbing at the edge of the comforter. He eased it back, blade at the ready, to be confronted with-

  
-a kid.

  
Dean gave the room's new addition an incredulous look. The boy was still fast asleep, tiny fists curled up and tucked under his chin. Dean estimated him to be around three years old, with disheveled chestnut hair. His bangs were on the long side, falling across his closed eyes, messy from sleep. With the blankets pulled back a bit, he could see the large orange t- shirt the boy wore, almost too big for his small frame. 

  
But the more important question Dean found himself wondering, was what the hell a kid was doing sleeping in his motel room?

  
The boy must have sensed eyes on him, because he shifted, frowning a bit as he drifted into consciousness. His eyes were a bright honey- hazel when he opened them, and as he stared up at Dean, the hunter couldn't help but shake the feeling that this boy was familiar somehow.

  
The two stared at each other, Dean still with one hand curled around the handle of a knife. The kid didn't seem to be alarmed by this, he just stared, unblinking, before he broke out into a wide smile.

  
"Dean!"

  
Before the hunter could get over his surprise and react, the child lunged forward, wrapping his little arms around Dean's side in a hug.

  
"Um," Dean started eloquently, the knife sliding from his hand and onto the pillow. "What the fuck?"

  
The boy smiled up at him, still latched onto his waist as if he didn't plan to let go anytime soon. Dean was a little too hung over to deal with this right now. This whole, random children sneaking into his motel room kinda thing. It was a little too Dateline and made him uncomfortable for a variety of reasons.

  
Needless to say, he was moving a bit slow on the uptake. "You broke into my room?"

  
The kid nodded happily, like he'd accomplished something amazing. Which, Dean supposed, a tiny kid like that breaking into anything was probably quite impressive. "You were sleepin' so hard you didn't hear me when I knocked."

  
"Why did you bust into my room?"

  
"Cuz you were sleepin'-"

  
Dean held up a hand, rubbing his temple. "Yeah, no, I got that. Why my room in particular?"

  
The boy rolled his eyes, letting go of the hunter enough to lean back and stare at him with what may have been a glare, had the boy's face not been so round, instead becoming more of a sulky looking pout. "Cuz you're the only one I know! I'm not stayin' with a stranger, and I didn' wanna sleep by myself like this."

  
"You know me?" he frowned, and yeah, the kid had used his name before. Suspicious. "What are you?"

  
After another moment of staring, the boy blinked, a laugh bubbling out of his mouth.

  
"Seriously? You don't recognize me?"

  
He studied the kid hard. He did look familiar, but he wasn't one of the few kids they'd met up with. Like the antichrist kid. He couldn't place him.

  
The boy tilted his head in a way that was frustratingly familiar, small arms crossing his chest. "Really? You're the one I'm leavin' my fate up to? You can't even figure out who I am. How did I think you'd be able to help now? You were so drunk last night you didn't even notice me breakin' in! Some hunter you are!"

  
Dean scowled, both at the kid's accusations and the fact that this little smartass sounded so damed familiar.

  
Also, wait, what?

  
"What the hell do you mean 'leaving your fate up to me'? I dunno who you are or where you came from, but I do not babysit."

  
The boy's lip poked out in a pout, eyes shining dangerously as he narrowed them. "It's your fault I'm like this anyway! So man up, cuz you gotta help change me back!"

  
"My fault? What the hell? I didn't do anything to a shrimp like you!"

  
"'M not a shrimp, jackass!" Tiny fists clenched tight as the boy stood on the bed, wobbling a bit on his small legs as he attempted to rear to his full unimpressive height.

  
"Hey whoa, language, kid," Dean blinked. Where did such a little kid learn words like that? Come to think of it, the boy talked awful well-- and awfully mature-- for his age.

  
This did nothing for the child's mood. He clenched his teeth, letting out a frustrated growl and flopped back on the bed to scoot off of it onto the floor. Then he toddled to the door, fingers scrabbling to unlock it. "Fine then! If you won't help me, I'll do it myself! Thanks for nothin' Deano, I should've just let my brother kill me!"

  
He managed to pull the door open enough to get out, eyes blurred with tears. He left Dean to stare after him.

  
And then it all clicked. The familiarity, the language, the nickname, and the brother killing. He scrambled off the bed, ignoring the wave of hangover nausea that followed his quick movements. He yanked the door open, oblivious to the fact that he was only wearing boxers and a t- shirt, bare feet padding along the sidewalk as he hurried after the little guy.

  
Fortunately his small frame meant he couldn't walk very fast, so he hadn't gotten far. Dean scooped the kid up, causing him to squirm and thrash in the hunter's arms.

  
"Let me go! You said you didn't wanna help me!"

  
Dean tightened his hold, careful not to hurt him, but not wanting to lose his grip. He moved quickly back toward the room, hissing in the boy's ear. "Dude, shut up before someone thinks I kidnapped you or something!"

  
"It'd serve you right!" the kid snapped, a small foot digging into Dean's side.

  
"Gabriel stop it," Dean barked, slipping into the same authoritative tone his dad had used, and later Dean had used when Sammy's tantrums had grown out of control.

  
Gabriel froze, dangling in Dean's arms. He started up at the hunter in surprise, and Dean wondered why he hadn't recognized him right away, with those eyes. He took advantage of the kid's complacency, and hurried back into the room, kicking the door shut behind them. He sat Gabriel on the bed, then went to work, locking both the door and the window the little angel had come through last night.

  
That finished, Dean turned around to find the toddler staring at him. He scrubbed a hand over his face, unsettled. "Okay, so what the hell happened? I mean, you were short before, but this is taking it a bit too far."

  
"Oh, but you're hilarious," Gabriel drawled, snapping out of his shock, and sarcasm just sounded weird in such a young voice. "This is what happened after my fight with Luce."

  
"He turned you into a baby? That's pretty unconventional fighting."

  
"No, you moron," he rubbed a small hand against his temple with a sigh." I died, okay? You knew that. And it wasn't pleasant in any form, let me tell you. But that DVD I gave you, it wasn't just to fill you guys in on the Plan B. It had some of my grace in it."

  
Dean blinked. "The DVD? But I broke that last night."

  
Gabriel shrugged his tiny shoulders. "Rub the lamp, free the genie, somethin' like that, I guess."

  
Dean took a moment to process this. "So did you mean to come back tiny? Getting in on the childhood angels never had?"

  
Another sigh. "'A course not! This was jus' all the form my grace could muster up."

  
"So what you're saying is that not only are you the littlest archangel in the garrison, you're also tapped out on power?"

  
"Runnin' on sheer dumb human determination righ' now."

  
The hunter sat on the bed beside him, leaning back on his arms. "And I'm supposed to help you somehow?"

  
Gabriel nodded. "For starters, I can't exactly go runnin' around alone like this. People think it's pretty weird for a baby to wander alone sans a parental unit of some kind. They get 'specially creeped out when it sounds like an adult."

  
"You're telling me," Dean muttered, thinking back to the language the tiny angel had used earlier.

  
He continued on, regardless of the interruption. "So I need you to be the front. Act like you're my caretaker or somethin'. Cuz me being like this means I'm human, for all intents and purposes, so I'm gonna need to eat and sleep, and I can't exactly stroll into the nearest diner and ask for the breakfast special with a booster seat, if you catch my drift. Also, we need to look for some way to get my powers back. Cuz humans are good for a laugh, but I got no wish to join the club permanently. So in the meantime, you get your moose to start crackin' the books to see if he can find somethin'."

  
At the mention of Sam, Dean visibly flinched. "That... that's not gonna happen, Gabe."

  
He frowned, obviously not catching on. "Why not? You guys can't be doin' anythin' too serious. I'm guessin' since there's still a human race around here, that you guys locked my brother back up, so what's the pressin' concern? You haven't managed to piss him off into runnin' away again, have you?"

  
"Sam is..." he looked away, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sam's gone."

  
Honey eyes widened, finally grasping at the seriousness of the hunter in front of him. Dean wouldn't joke about something like that. "What? But you guys are like roaches! I was honestly convinced you couldn't actually die!"

  
"Well he's gone," Dean snapped, getting up to pace the room. He didn't want to talk about this, not when it still hurt so much-- but then again, he didn't think there would ever be a time when it didn't hurt. "Sam let Lucifer in so he could take the fall into the Cage. Took Michael with him, wearing our half brother."

  
"Fuck," Gabe breathed, once again throwing Dean for a loop at the words coming out of a three year-old's mouth. "I'm so sorry."

  
And the funny thing was, he honestly sounded it. For one of the few times since Dean had met him in Ohio, he sounded compltely serious and sympathetic. And not in that 'I'm sorry for your loss' kind of way. Gabriel was one of the few people who knew just how much Sam meant to Dean. How much it hurt to lose a brother you were that close to.

  
Gabe gnawed at his lip, like he wanted to ask something but was afraid to. Finally, he squeaked out a word. "Cas?"

  
"Cas is fine, he's back playing sheriff in Heaven."

  
Gabe's small shoulders slumped in relief. Dean was almost a bit jealous. "Can you get hold of him?"

  
"I can try. He didn't exactly leave a forwarding address, but maybe his phone's not smashed into tiny heavenly pieces. Cuz the usual method hasn't exactly been working."

  
"He's not answering prayers?" the boy frowned in confusion. 

  
Dean shook his head. He didn't exactly blame Cas for not answering, he supposed he'd been pretty awful the first few weeks after Sam's martyr act. Cas had work to do, an entire population of angels that were now missing three- fourths of their leaders. It had to be chaos up there. But Dean had been hurt, and when Dean hurt, he had a tendency to lash out on whoever was closest. And poor Cas had taken the brunt of that without comment. And then eventually he'd just stopped coming around at all, leaving Dean to his white- bread world and barely- masked pain. Dean hadn't seen the angel since.

  
"Anythin' else happen while I was busy bein' floating particles in the ether or whatever?" Gabriel's question brought the hunter back out of his thoughts.

  
"I think that's about it," Dean sighed, running a hand through his short hair. He looked at the tiny ex- archangel sitting on his bed. This was a hell of a lot to take in. He turned on a heel, going to his duffle.

  
"You wanna go for breakfast?" he asked, rummaging through the contents. "I need coffee before I deal with any of this."

  
Gabriel arched a brow, a weird expression for a child. "Will there be pancakes?"

  
"Yeah, sure," Dean came back to the bed, holding a small silver knife and his flask of holy water. "Just need to do the tests first. Standard 'coming back from the dead' procedure."

  
The boy wrinkled his nose, holding an arm out. "Always a catch."

  
oOoOo

  
After assuring Dean that he wasn't any kind of demon or shapeshifter, and a bandaid on his arm from the motel's bathroom, Gabriel trailed happily behind the hunter as the pair headed to the Impala. He started to struggle with the passenger door, but Dean stopped him. "Whoa, shrimp, you're in the back. I'm not getting pulled over for letting your tiny ass ride shotgun."

  
Gabriel stuck his tongue out, but shuffled into the back seat, buckling his seatbelt.

  
"And try to duck down back there. You're supposed to have a carseat or something."

  
He just grinned as he felt the boy kick his seat.

  
The diner he chose was the usual fare. Small, cozy and busy enough to not call attention to themselves. Dean got a booster chair for Gabriel, shooting the kid a smirk as he glared. But Dean ordered him pancakes and chocolate milk, so he was appeased a bit after that.  Dean pushed his eggs around on his plate, watching the kid struggle with the fork. The brain knew what it was doing, but his fingers were tiny and unused to the task. Dean had already cut the pancakes into small pieces, much to Gabe's embarrassment. But despite it all, Dean actually found himself enjoying this.

  
"So," he started, biting into a slice of bacon. "You got any ideas on how this whole thing's gonna work? Are we looking for a spell, or a tree full of grace or something?" He recalled Anna, trying to hunt down a tree that had contained her grace, before Uriel had gotten hold of it.

  
"Honestly? Dunno," he replied around a mouthful of pancake. "This sort of thing usually doesn't happen, so there's not really any past experience to go on. That's why I hoped Cas could help, if he's back on Heaven's good side."

  
"Well, I'll keep trying, but Cas isn't answering."

  
Gabe sipped at his chocolate milk, complete with a crazy straw. Being a kid had a few perks at least. "We'll have to look for somethin' else then, since you two aren't BFFs anymore. What'd you do, anyway?"

  
Dean frowned. "Why do you assume I'm the one that did anything?" Gabe leveled him with a look. "Okay, fine. Things got a little rough when Sam was gone, and I may've taken it out on him a bit."

  
"Nice, Deano. Real smooth."

  
"Pipe down, Fun Size, we'll see what we can come up with. This might be big enough to give Bobby a call."

  
The waitress came by, offering Dean a refill on his coffee. She cooed over Gabriel, who only stared at her, lest he blow his cover on some sarcastic remark. She ruffled his hair before heading back to the counter, sending Dean a smile.

  
"The sooner the better," Gabe grumbled, moving to fix his hair once she was out of earshot.

  
"I dunno," Dean grinned against his coffee cup. "Might keep you around a bit longer. Chicks dig single dads."

  
Gabriel threw a sugar packet at him.

  
oOoOo

  
The next stop was the nearest department store, to get a few things Gabriel needed to look the three year- old part, and Dean to not look like some negligent guardian. Namely shoes. And a jacket. The weather wasn't unreasonably cold, but it wasn't exactly warm either. Gabe would be fine in the orange t- shirt and denim shorts he'd shown up in, but he needed something against the breeze.

  
And definitely the shoes. Because even in the diner, Dean had gotten a few dirty looks at the kid's bare feet.

  
So to the Wal- Mart they went. Dean grabbed a cart from the stack, plopping the boy in the seat of it and heading for the children's section. He flipped through the racks of little jackets while Gabe glared at him. The little angel crossed his arms, leaning back in the seat. "How come I gotta ride up here? I'm not really a kid, y'know. I can walk."

  
"Yeah, but I don't feel like waiting for you to catch up on those stubby little things," He smirked, reaching out to poke at the boy's leg. Gabriel retaliated with a yelp and a flailing kick. "Plus you're not wearing shoes and tile floor's cold as shit. And besides, I don't want you wandering off."

  
Honey eyes narrowed. "You do realize I'm like, millennia older than you, right?"

  
"And right now, you're in a kid's body. Kids wander off. Hell, you wandered off a lot when you were an adult."

  
He'd meant it as a joke, not really thinking about the hidden meaning behind the words until he said them, watching the boy's face crumple. Quickly he added, "Besides, I'm supposed to be your guardian. This is what parents do, put kids in the cart."

  
Gabriel grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like 'fuck you'. Dean pointedly ignored it, pulling a tiny brown jacket from the rack. He looked from it to the kid, estimating if it would fit. Gabe was kinda short, even for a three year- old, and a little chubby with the soft baby fat. He hadn't had to judge a kid's size since Sam was one, and Dean had scrounged up clothes for him at whatever thrift shop they'd come across when John wasn't around to take them to the store. And Sam had been a little scrawny thing anyway, until high school.

  
He popped it off the hanger. "Here, try this on."

  
Gabriel inspected the jacket critically before taking it from him, squirming into it. Dean had to help him, his small arms getting caught up in the sleeves, but they eventually managed. "How's it feel?"

  
Gabe shrugged. "Fits pretty good. I like it. It's got dinosaurs on it. Dinosaurs rule."

  
Dean snorted as the ex- archangel ran a tiny hand down the cartoon T- Rex on the jacket's front. "Well, I guess that's the one then, huh?" he chuckled, ruffling the boy's hair fondly, before he even knew what he was doing.

  
There was a moment when a thought struck him as weird. He'd only been with Gabriel in this form for a few hours, and he was already getting used to him like this. Dean liked kids. He'd been raising one for most of his life. Not to mention the kids they stumbled upon in their jobs. It seemed like when there was a child involved, Dean always took the case a little more personal. He'd always noticed it, even without Sam there to point it out to him, but he'd never made anything of it. 

  
But those months spent with Lisa and Ben had made Dean realize just how awesome it was to have a kid around. And then Gabriel had broken into his motel room. So yeah, he was kind of enjoying himself right now. Even if the pint- size ex- archangel was a lot of trouble. And a lot of mouth.

  
He was taken out of his thoughts as he noticed the other's honey eyes on him. "What?"

  
"You're enjoyin' this too much," Gabriel accused, small hands moving automatically to fix his hair.

  
"Dunno what you're talking about, Fun Size." Dean grinned, moving the cart-- and the boy inside-- to the next isle, looking around for shoes.

  
Gabriel frowned at him from the seat, twisting his head to keep Dean's eye contact. "Don't lie to me. I'm an archangel and a trickster, I can tell when someone's lyin' to me."

  
Dean fought the urge to correct him with the past tense. Reminding Gabriel of their situation wasn't going to do anything but upset the kid more. Instead he busied himself with tossing a pack of tiny socks in the basket and rolling the cart down the tile floor into the shoe section.

  
"I'm serious, Deano, you need to be one hundred percent on helpin' me here," the boy crossed his arms, "It's gonna be hard enough to figure this out. I need to know you're backin' me up, and not secretly wishin' I'd stay this way forever so you can have someone to take care of."

  
"What are you talking about? You think I want to be stuck on babysitting duty forever?"

  
Gabriel arched a tiny brow. "You've done it most of your life, I figure you'd start to miss it after a while."

  
He didn't flinch, but just barely, as the small angel hit the point right on the head. He may not have had his powers any more, but it still seemed like he could read Dean like a book. So he did what Dean Winchester did best. Complete denial. "You're cuter this way, but don't get any ideas. I want you out of my hair and playing tricks on dickbags somewhere else as soon as possible."

  
Whatever humor was in Gabe's expression dropped at those words. "Oh, well yeah, guess once I'm back to normal, I'd be out of your ridiculously pretty hair." 

  
"Of course you would." And he would. What reason would Gabriel even have to stick around with Dean after he was back to his normal archangel self? It's not like they'd been friends before Gabe's tangle with Lucifer at Elysian Fields. Hell, if anything, it was mostly Dean's fault Gabriel had been killed in the first place. Of course the archangel would hold that against him. Dean had blamed himself for it right after it had happened, so he knew Gabriel couldn't be happy with him. He was probably itching to get away from the hunter as soon as possible. It probably pissed him off that he had to go to Dean for help, of all people. Helping Gabriel get his grace back was probably the LEAST Dean could do to make up for everything, and here he was, contemplating how much he liked having the little angel around in his child form.

  
"I can see the steam comin' from your ears, Deano," Gabriel joked halfheartedly. In his adult body, he might have been a master at masking his emotions, but his child's face hid nothing. He was still sad, most likely about thinking he didn't have Dean's help after all, and Dean couldn't let that slide. He owed Gabriel that much at least. 

  
His normal grin slid easily onto his face, placating and seemingly normal. "Just thinking of possible spells that I'd seen that could maybe help us fix this."

  
Gabriel hummed, resting his elbows on the cart's handle, chin braced on his hands. Dean couldn't tell if it was because he didn't like where the conversation was going, or because his child- self was bored already. Gabriel had a short attention span as an archangel, so it was reasonable to think he had a worse one as a human child.

  
Dean decided to let the subject drop entirely, focusing on the task at hand. Picking the kid up under his arms, he lifted Gabriel out of the cart, setting him down on the cushion in the shoe section where people tried on their choices. 

  
"Stay here. I'm gonna go pick out a round of stuff so we can see what size you wear, okay?" Gabriel nodded and he grinned again. "I'll see about finding something with dinosaurs."

  
"You really know how to sweet talk a guy, Dean- Bean," Gabriel cooed, giving him a wink.

  
It was way more of a hilarious gesture on a three year- old. Dean laughed. He then made his way down the isle, careful not to go too far. Gabriel was a little too mischievous to be left on his own for long. He tried to remember about what size Sammy had been when he was that age. It was harder than he thought; it'd been a LONG time since Dean had picked out clothes for his baby brother. Eventually he stopped trying, and just grabbed a few boxes of differing sizes. They'd find out what worked, and then try to find something the boy actually liked. Dean balanced the boxes together, carrying the stack back to where he'd left Gabriel and the cart.

  
The cart was there.

  
Gabriel was gone.

  
oOoOo

  
Dean was freaking out.

  
Okay, so, maybe it wasn't as bad as all that. So he'd lost the archangel- turned- child that had broken into his motel room this morning. Maybe it wasn't that big a deal. Gabriel had been around for pretty much ever. He'd taken care of himself long before Dean had come along.

  
Of course, he'd taken care of himself in an adult body, with the help of magical angelic and pagan powers. 

  
So yeah, Dean was freaking out just a bit.

  
He left the shoe boxes on the booth, and the cart with it. The kid had tiny legs and no shoes, he couldn't have gotten that far, right?  
But this WAS Gabriel he was thinking of here. If anyone could manage to create chaos in half a minute, it was him. Dean couldn't tell if he was more worried about the tiny ex- archangel or the store in general. He had a feeling he'd be paying for something broken by the end of this adventure.

  
Dean took off down the major walkway, peering into the isles on either side of him. There were people mulling about in their shopping, and occasionally a kid would make him stop to look twice, but he couldn't find Gabriel anywhere. He decided to switch tactics, instead going to places he figured the kid would wander of towards. 

  
The first stop was the most obvious. Anyone who'd spent more than ten minutes in a room with Gabriel knew he had a notorious sweet tooth. It bordered on addiction. So Dean headed to the isle where the candy was, searching the row that held enough sugar to keep Gabe going pretty much for years. But no archangels of any size or shape. Dean tried to think of somewhere else.

  
Kids liked toys, right? And even if Gabriel wasn't really a kid, he still liked shiny things. It was as good a shot as any, he figured.  
He hadn't heard any screaming yet, so he considered that a good sign. Maybe Gabriel was just acting like a normal little kid, playing around with some toys. He found his way to the toy isle, shuffling through the brightly colored shelves. There were plenty of kids there, poking around at things on the shelves, talking with their parents, even a pair of siblings beating each other up with foam pool floaties that vaguely reminded Dean of himself and Sammy from their childhood outings to stores. But no Gabriel. 

  
As calm as he was trying to be, it was getting harder to not start panicking. If this were a normal child, he'd have been worried, sure, but nothing too bad. This was something completely different. Not only was this a kid, liable to get snatched up by anyone who saw him wandering around on his own, but Gabe was also something that used to be not human. Something that was used to having powers to save him in case of trouble, and tended to start trouble because of that very reason. Something that was used to being in control of most situations, and didn't have to worry about pesky limitations like pain and injury. And something that, while he looked like a normal human child, didn't really know the first thing about acting like one. All that had to happen was that Gabe run into a greeter or stocker or something and start going into a conversation that children shouldn't know how to have, and someone would start getting weirded out or suspicious. 

  
Not to mention Dean would look like one hell of a crap parent when he finally found the kid. 

  
Hilarious incidents with pool toys aside, there was no sign of Gabriel in the toy isles. Dean, having not spent much time with kids outside of his own brother decades ago, wasn't really sure where else kids gravitated to when left to their own devices in stores. But this was Gabriel, so maybe he wasn't thinking like a kid.

  
So where would an ex- archangel find himself interested in?

  
He decided to try the random isle check again, since he had no idea which specific place to look. He moved quickly, dodging around slow customers and whipping his head to either side to check both isles along the way.

  
"C'mon, Gabe, where did you go?" he muttered, teeth grinding in an odd combination of nerves and frustration. If he found the kid, he was going to make sure he was safe, then he was going to kill him.

  
There was nothing in the electronics section. He'd half expected to find him there, staring at whatever cartoon they always had playing on the giant TVs for sale. He'd found Sammy like that once, enthralled and watching The Lion King when it came out on video. No such luck with Gabriel. Although there were a group of kids watching some kind of fighting panda bear movie. Which told him that at least some things hadn't changed that much.

  
He could feel himself getting more worried as time went on. Anything could have happened to the kid, and he was supposed to be taking care of him. He should've never let Gabe out of the damned cart. Of COURSE he wasn't gonna stay put. It was Gabriel. The only angel to listen to orders worse than Lucifer. And there was the nagging fear that Gabriel was off doing something not only dangerous, but liable to get them kicked out of the store, or even worse, get Dean arrested for bad parenting.

  
Dean stopped short as he caught sight of a small form in an orange shirt. He broke into a run, nearly running the kid over before realizing it wasn't even Gabriel. Instead a small girl in an orange dress stared at him with wide eyes, letting out a loud whine. Dean froze immediately, hands held up disarmingly.

  
"Whoa, chill kid. I thought you were someone else."

  
It was at that moment that the girl's mother decided to emerge from a rack of clothes, glaring at Dean as she took her daughter's hand.

  
Fuck, Dean was going to get arrested.

  
He tried his best charming smile, taking a step back and trying not to look suspicious at the same time. Last thing he needed was someone calling Dateline. "No, seriously, my bad. I'm looking for... my kid. He was wearing an orange shirt, I panicked and thought..."

  
The woman's eyes softened immediately, even if the hold on her daughter remained. "Where did you see him last?"

  
Dean blinked. He hadn't expected questions. But if someone could help him find Gabe before there was trouble, that was welcome help in his book. "In the shoe department. I only left him for a second to get a box. Couldn't have been more than ten minutes ago, I've been looking for him ever since."

  
"Have you tried the toys?"

  
He nodded. He wondered how much help she'd actually be, if she thought he was one of those useless fathers who didn't know anything about kids. For some reason, the thought made him mad. "And candy. And electronics. And pretty much every isle between shoes and here."

  
The woman frowned in thought, looking around as if she expected to see Gabriel just wander up at any moment. "How old is he?  
You should go to the front desk. They can call him on the intercom if he's old enough to recognize it. Otherwise, they'll put out a store search for him."

  
Dean wasn't sure if he wanted that much attention drawn to the situation. If it were a normal child, that would be an excellent idea.  
But there was a chance that Gabriel would stay missing just to mess with him. Not to mention everyone would know that Dean couldn't keep track of a little kid.

  
But the woman was looking at him expectantly. So he nodded. "Good idea. I'll try that, thanks."

  
"If nothing else," she continued, "Try to think of things he likes. One time my Rosalee and I got separated, and I found her over in the dishes because she found some plates with giraffes on them."

  
"I like giraffes," the girl, Rosalee told him with a happy smile.

  
Dean nodded absently, leaving the pair to their shopping. That was weird.

  
He started up the search again, vaguely wondering if he should take the mother at her advice and have the front desk call him. He knew Gabriel would hear it, and he'd know what it meant. But the last thing they needed was the attention. He went over the rest of the advice he'd been given in his head.

  
Try to think of things he likes...

  
He frowned, thinking back to Gabriel sitting in the cart and talking to him. The jacket he picked out.

  
The dinosaurs it had on the front.

  
Dinosaurs rule.

  
It clicked in his mind then, and he was surprised he hadn't thought of it sooner. He turned on a heel and rushed toward the kids' section they'd come from before going to look at shoes. He figured it would be the best place for dinosaurs.

  
Dean found the boy after skimming a few isles. Gabriel didn't even notice he'd been caught. He was fixated on climbing the shelf in front of him, determined to get to the plush dinosaur toys at the top; his tiny feet planted on the second ledge as he reached for the third level. Before he knew what he was doing, Dean let out a rather indignant yelp, bolting down the isle to yank the kid off the shelf. Gabriel screeched, immediately kicking and squirming in surprise.

  
"Jesus, Gabe calm the hell down, it's just me!"

  
Gabriel stopped thrashing, tilting his head up to stare at the hunter. "Oh. Hey Deano, what's the happs?"

  
Dean gave him the most incredulous look he could muster up as the boy dangled loosely from his arms. "What the fuck, Gabe?! I told you not to wander off! I was gone for like, half a minute and you're just strolling all over the place!"

  
"What's the big deal? It's not like I couldn't find my way back."

  
Dean fought the urge to give Gabriel a shake. He really did. "That's not the point! What if someone had tried to kidnap you? Or an employee picked you up and tried to start trouble cuz I lost you?"

  
Gabriel crossed his small arms across his chest, feet kicking idly in the air as Dean held him up. "For starters, not really a kid, remember? So kidnapping isn't really much of a threat. And secondly, you're worrying too much. You know how many kids get lost in a Walmart every day?"

  
He squirmed in Dean's arms once again, snatching an orange T- rex off the shelf. Dean didn't bother to argue.

  
Instead, he started back toward the shoe section, where he'd left their cart. He kept an arm wrapped around Gabriel's waist the whole time, not about to let him down for a second after this. "Kidnapping IS a concern. You might not think like a kid, but you've still got the strength of one. And no mojo to back it up with right now. Besides, what's the point of me pretending to be your guardian if you're not gonna stay with me?"

  
"You're just making a big deal outta this cuz you like to pretend I'm some little kid that needs savin'," he muttered, hugging up to the toy as Dean plopped him back into the cart. Thankfully no one had decided to move it. After all this, Dean really didn't feel like starting the shopping all over again.

  
"You asked for my help, Gabe. Don't complain when you get it."

  
Honey eyes narrowed into an angry pout. "You haven't actually done anythin' to help yet! You've just been runnin' around playin' parent! We're no closer to gettin' me back to normal than we were when I started!"

  
Dean turned around from where he'd been picking up the shoe boxes. "Excuse me?"

  
"Just face it! You're not helpin' cuz you like me better this way!" Gabriel snapped. "I'm little, you think I need someone to take care of me, and doin' this makes you forget about how much it hurts cuz Sam's gone!"

  
Dean dropped the box he'd picked up. He didn't say anything, just stared at Gabriel with wide eyes. For his part, Gabriel winced at his own words, looking away from the hunter. He curled in on himself, little shoulders slumping as he pressed his cheek to the dinosaur's head. Neither spoke for a few moments, and when Dean could focus his thoughts enough to look around, he considered himself lucky that no one was in the isle with them to hear the outburst.

  
He knelt down to pick up the box for the second time, feeling a mix of anger and guilt swirl around in the pit of his stomach. When he stood back up, he glanced at Gabe's face. The boy's eyes were bright with tears, and he clutched at the toy like a shield. Dean sighed.

  
"Gabe..."

  
Gabriel didn't look up at him. "Sorry."

  
The hunter nodded, willing to forget the conversation ever happened for now. Not like he enjoyed talking about these sorts of things anyway. Instead he busied himself with the shoes, holding onto Gabriel's foot while he tried a few on. The ex- archangel didn't speak, just watched him from behind the toy. After figuring out the size he needed, Dean left him in the cart, taking the boxes back to their shelves and picking out something he figured Gabriel would like. The whole situation was tense now. He was angry, sure, but when he actually stopped to think about it, he wondered how much of what Gabriel had said was actually true.

  
He showed Gabriel the shoes, tiny little velcro sneakers with a cartoon stegosaurus on the side. Gabriel nodded, even going so far as to offer a tiny little smile, but it wasn't up to his usual standards. Dean wondered if there was something he could do to at least get them back on friendlier terms.

  
Looking around the isles as they headed to the check- out, he spotted something. With a grin, he tossed the package in the cart.  
Gabriel didn't even bother to look.

  
Later, in the parking lot, Dean sat the boy sideways on the Impala's backseat, fitting him with the newly- purchased socks, shoes and jacket. He tossed the rest of the bags in the seat, opening one in particular.

  
"It's nice out," he commented idly as he worked, pulling the contraption from its wrapping and looking it over. "Let's take a walk. I saw an ice cream joint down the street, I'll bet they've got some good stuff."

  
Gabriel looked up, curious, just in time for Dean to wrap the thing around his chest, snapping it in place. The boy stared at it, giving him a wide- eyed look as he realized what it was. Dean just smirked at him, adjusting the handle part of the kiddy leash. It was in the shape of a monkey, soft and plush, its arms the straps that wrapped around Gabriel's little torso.

  
"Oh fuck you, Winchester."

  
"Don't say fuck, Gabriel. Kids don't say fuck."

  
This got him a full out grin from the kid. "Kids learn from adults though, and you say fuck all the time." 

  
"Do as I say, not as I do."

  
"Fuck off," he replied cheerily, hopping off the backseat with his dinosaur in hand. "You owe me ice cream, let's go."

 


	2. Chapter 2

Things quieted down for the night after that. The pair of them went out for ice cream as promised, then dinner. Gabe snarked about Dean being a horrible parent, letting a kid eat dessert first. Dean countered that some rules needed to be bent in order to cheer up moody kids. The tiny archangel managed to kick him in the thigh from his booster seat.

Dinner was uneventful. No one gave Dean any dirty looks for toting around a half- dressed child, and Gabriel only tried to embarrass him with 'innocent' questions regarding the waitress' ass once. All in all, Dean considered it a victory. And victories called for pie, even if they'd had ice cream already.

A LITTLE piece for Gabe though. Last thing he needed was a sugared- up trickster kid later in the night.

As it turned out, he didn't really have to worry. He set Gabriel up in the hotel's bed, flicking on the TV to whatever crappy movie was playing. He may have seen it a thousand times, but he didn't know if Gabriel had. And really, it was just for background noise anyway.

He took the chair, the sort- of plush office chair with badly- patterned upholstery that came standard in every hotel room he'd ever stayed in. He slumped into it with an extra blanket from the main office.

Gabriel stared at him from the bed, his tiny form barely taking up any of the double bed.

And stared.

And then, for good measure, stared some more.

Finally, Dean caved. The kid reminded him too much of Cas like that, and it made him antsy. "What?"

"Why are you sleepin' in the chair? There's plenty of room up here, and contrary to what you hear about kids, I'm not gonna bite you."

Dean shuffled the blankets around. "Cuz you're the guest. Also cuz I don't want your tiny ass rolling out of this thing and waking me up in the middle of the night crying."

Gabriel shot him the three year-old equivalent of the 'you're a fucking asshole' face.

Dean just grinned and flicked off the lamp, plunging the room into semi- darkness. They sat in silence, the TV screen the only light and sound in the room. Within half an hour, Gabriel had dropped off, his tiny self exhausted from the day's stress and events.

oOoOo

Dean didn't know when he'd fallen asleep, but when he was roused from it, the room was still mostly dark. There wasn't any light from outside, only the TV, now playing some stupid infomercial, so he figured it hadn't been that long yet. He blinked his eyes open halfway as something pulled at his blanket. A small, warm weight settled down against his chest and he glanced down to see  
Gabriel curling up against him. He let his eyes close again with a smile. Warmth spread through him that had nothing to do with body heat and everything to do with emotions he wouldn't dare admit to feeling out loud. He shifted, wrapping his arms around the kid in a comforting manner, like he used to do when Sammy had nightmares. Gabriel didn't say anything, just curled into it with a soft sniffle and drifted back to sleep. Dean followed shortly after.

When he woke again, the sun was shining through the closed blinds. He sat up, stretching the cricks out of his shoulders and back from sleeping cramped in a chair all night. After a few joints popped with some audible cracks, Dean looked around. He was alone, not only in the chair, but in the room.

He got up, shuffling to the room's tiny bathroom. The door was open a crack, but he knocked anyway. After getting no answer, he pushed the door open, starting to worry. What if Gabe had tried to take a bath and had drowned?

The bathroom was empty, which meant Gabe hadn't drowned. That was the good news, but now there was a more pressing question; where the hell was Gabriel if he wasn't in the room?

He was about to go down to the front office to check for him-- maybe he'd woken up early and had wandered down there for free pastries?-- when he found the note. He could barely read it; obviously Gabe had some trouble getting his small fingers to cooperate with the hotel's crappy stationary.

'Dean-

Sorry I ran off. But I guess you'd expect that from me by now. Anyway, since we can't get hold of the angels, I'm talking to the next best thing. Crowley says he can help me, and I've dealt with him enough times to know he's at least willing to try. Hopefully next time I see you, I'll look like myself again. Thanks for helping me out yesterday. I know I was a lot of trouble for you, and you didn't feed me to any dingos or anything, so hey, good for you! 

But to be completely serious, which I never am, so if anyone asked, I never wrote this. It was fun, if not a little awkward. And without your help, I probably would've wound up a lot worse off. So thanks. When I get back to Heaven, I'll make sure to check on Cassie and see what's going on for you.

-Gabriel'

Dean's hand closed around the paper, crumpling it. He fumbled around the room, grabbing for his duffle bag. He had a spell to perform, and hopefully he hadn't used up all the ingredients from the last time they'd tried it.

He couldn't tell exactly how long Gabriel had been gone, but based on the time they'd gone to sleep, it couldn't have been more than six or seven hours. Less really, because Gabriel had climbed into the chair with him at some point. But that was enough time for him to get in trouble. Especially since it was Gabriel; ten seconds was enough for him to get in trouble, and you counted yourself lucky he behaved for the first nine.

The locator spell was hasty, thrown together as soon as Dean could find all the necessary components. At least Ruby had been useful for a few things, even if she was an enabling, brother- stealing demonic bitch. There was no way to track Crowley, the demon covered his tracks too well. But Gabriel, now without his grace and fully human, was an easier matter entirely. The spell worked well enough, charring the map except for the small area where he'd find the kid. 

His location in hand-- some cannery in southern Ohio, after a quick check on the local map website-- he checked out, grabbed some of those free pastries at the office, and left without another thought. He drove there in one straight shot, car speeding along as fast as he dared in early morning traffic.

He reached the cannery by mid- afternoon, parking a few blocks away and trekking the rest of the way with the usual weaponry in hand.

There wasn't much to the place; it looked like your standard variety abandoned warehouse. Dark, damp, rusted and shady. Dean had the fleeting thought that if all the seedy stuff took place in the delapidated buildings, why didn't they just tear them all down?  
He figured at least this way, the illegal activity was here, and not somewhere they'd have to work actively to keep safe. Then he smashed the lock to one of the loading bay doors and snuck inside.

He looked around, wishing he'd gotten some sort of layout for the place when he'd looked it up. Sam would have thought of that. Sammy had always thought of the little details, the tiny extras that would make things just a bit easier.

But Sam wasn't here, and Gabriel needed his help. So he started up the stairs toward where the offices would inevitably be in the building. He figured Crowley would want to hole up somewhere a bit nicer than the rusted machinery on the ground floor. There were a decided lack of stunt demons in the place. Dean had expected Crowley to come standard with a bit of hired muscle to sway intruders. The whole thing seemed fishy, but the last time they'd seen him, most demons didn't really seem to like him too well, so maybe he was still the demon outcast from the club.

Once he made it upstairs, there was no doubt as to where the crossroads demon and the ex- archangel were. From the office furthest down the long hallway, Dean could hear Crowley yelling. Crowley, for all his being a creature from Hell and all, didn't actually yell very much. Only a few times that he remembered, anyway. Leave it to Gabriel to piss off the smoothest of demons.

He crept closer, sliding the Colt out from the waist of his jeans. Pausing at the door, Dean peered through the open crack, hoping to see if Gabe was alright.

The boy was perched on the office's desk, tiny legs kicking back and forth. Crowley glared at the tiny angel, leaning back in the executive chair with his arms crossed. Gabriel only grinned back.

"C'mon, Crowles, lighten up! You're far too serious."

"And you're far too annoying."

"Don't be like that! You help me out and I make things easier for you when I get back to the castles in the sky. It's win- win, so I don't see why you're so grumpy."

"Possibly because every angel on the planet and above would like to see me dead, and here you are waltzing in and asking for a direct line to them!" He propped his feet up on the desk. "I'm offering to help you however I can, what more do you want from me?"

Gabriel beamed, looking like the child he was supposed to be. "My last guardian got me ice cream."

Dean snickered quietly at that. But then he remembered why he was here. His hand was on the door, gun raised and ready.  
Crowley wouldn't go down easy, but if he could take him down long enough to get Gabe out of there, he'd worry about pissed off crossroads kings later.

Inside, the conversation moved on, oblivious to Dean standing at the door.

"We're not going for bloody ice cream, Gabriel!" A sigh. "I don't know why I put up with you."

"Because I'm the only angel that deals with you without tryin' to singe your ass with holy fire whenever the mood strikes me."

"You've got quite a mouth on you got such a tiny body."

"So they tell me. Now are we doin' this or not? Cuz I've spent the past few days with the intense urge to curl up with a blankie and have Dean tell me stories while I suck my thumb. I'm worried that this is startin' to do serious permanent damage."

Dean blinked, hesitating. Gabriel hadn't mentioned that. Though that would explain the kid cuddling up to him the previous night. And the frustrated tears in the store.

Gabriel's child mind and ex- archangel mind were fighting for control. Or blending, or something. Either way, if was freaking him out, and Dean hadn't done anything for him but treat him like a kid. Boy, didn't that just make him feel like an ass.

Crowley studied the boy curiously, as if this were some fascinating experiment he was considering the results of. "I've got an idea," he said finally, lips turning up into a slight grin that did nothing to ease Dean's worry.

Gabriel looked up, honey eyes alight with hope. "Yeah, what is it?"

Crowley nodded. Dean could sense a sort of change in the air, something that made his skin prickle and hair stand on end. He didn't like it one bit.

"How about you stay with me, and I call the angels. Then when they realize I've got one of their two remaining archangels under my thumb, I give my demands."

Gabe frowned. "That's it? That's the plan? Well, I guess it could be done. Then once you've got what you want, I'll go back to the others and--"

"That's... not really where this plan is going, angel."

Gabriel had time to scrunch his face up in confusion before Crowley made a grab for him, snatching the boy up by the shirt collar.  
The demon lifted him off the desk, holding him at arm's length to avoid the thrashing of tiny limbs as Gabriel fought him.

Dean slammed the door open, aiming the Colt directly at Crowley. "Drop the kid!"

Gabriel paused in his struggles to stare in surprise. "Dean?"

Crowley, however, did not look so shocked. Instead he just sighed, flicking out his free hand. Immediately the Colt was knocked from his grip, scattering across the floor. Another wave of the demon's hand sent the hunter back through the doorway. Then the door slammed closed.

Dean was on it in an instant, crashing his weight against the door, but it was stuck tight.

"Got myself a bit of an upgrade since we saw each other last, Winchester," Crowley called from the office. "That's what happens when you take Lucifer out of the equation." 

Gabriel cursed and snarled in the background, sounding like he was putting up a decent fight for a three year- old, ex- archangel or not. There was a startled yelp, then the boy fell silent.

"Did you just hit him?!" Dean yelled incredulously, his shoulder colliding with the door again. It gave, just a bit. "Dude, he's a little kid right now!"

"I'm a demon!" Crowley snapped by way of reply.

One last shove had the door crashing open again, and Dean was back in the office. Crowley had Gabriel by the throat, holding the boy by face level. Gabe was struggling to breathe, feet kicking, but the fight was fading from him fast. There was a red mark on his cheek already threatening to bruise. Dean grabbed the closest object he could find, a paperweight off the filing cabinet by the door, and hurled it at the demon. It beamed him on the head and bounced off, thudding to the floor.

Crowley glared at him. "Ouch!"

"Put him down!" Dean growled, reaching absently for more office supplies to toss. His eyes scanned the room quickly, looking for the lost Colt.

"Now you're just pissing me off," the demon grumbled, knocking Dean back into the cabinet with demonic power. 

He slammed into the metal with a pained grunt, knocking the cabinet over. Its contents spilled out onto the office floor as he struggled to get back up.

Gabriel took the momentary distraction to duck his head down, sinking his teeth into Crowley's wrist and biting down as hard as he could manage. The demon yelled, throwing the boy without thinking and clutching his now- bleeding wrist.

"You fucking BIT me?!" He demanded, eyes going from the injury to the small form on the floor. 

Gabriel just glared, looking as menacing as a three year- old could get. "You were gonna freakin' kidnap me for ransom! You're lucky bitin's all I can do!"

"It's not like there's very much of a difference between you then and now," the demon rubbed at his wrist, glaring at the damage. 

Apparently kids had sharp teeth. Dean had a sudden appreciation for teething rings. He left Gabriel to distract Crowley while he tried to get to his feet in the corner. The air had been knocked from his lungs and his ribs made their displeasure known whenever he tried to twist, making it to his hands and knees.

"It would've worked out fine if you'd just cooperated," Gabriel clenched his tiny fists, not trusting himself to get to his feet with any kind of dignity. "It's not like you wouldn'tve gotten anythin' good out of it!"

Crowley wiped the side of his hand on his coat with a slight grimace, whether from pain or at the damage to his clothes the boy couldn't tell. "If you hadn't realized by now, angel, I'm of the school of 'why get good when you can have better'."

"Well now you get nothin' but an ass kickin'!" the ex-archangel put a hand to his cheek, rubbing the sore place with a pout.

Crowley rolled his eyes, holding his unbitten hand out, palm open. Like a magnet, the Colt scraped across the floor and into his waiting hand. Gabriel's eyes widened, but instead of the child, Crowley pointed the gun at Dean.

"And just who's going to give me this comeuppance?" he asked with a smirk, brow arching as he held the gun steady.

Dean looked up, pausing halfway to standing, more leaning against the doorway by this point. The Colt was aimed dead on him, there was no way it could miss. And Crowley was definitely the kind of person who could be counted on to hit where it hurts, even if he didn't feel like outright killing at the moment.

"Shit."

"That about sums it up," the demon drawled, aiming low.

There was a flash of orange and Gabriel was up on his feet, toddling as fast as he could to stand between demon and hunter.

Crowley sighed. "What are you doing, angel?"

Dean looked surprised, wasting no time in grabbing the boy by the shoulder and pulling him to the side.

Gabe scowled up at the hunter, trying to push his way forward. "Would you stop bein' a moron, he's not gonna shoot me!" the ex- archangel hissed, pressing his small fingers against Dean's hand.

"Dude, I don't care, I'm not using a kid as a human shield," Dean snapped back.

"What makes you so sure I won't shoot you?" Crowley tilted his head, bemused.

Both heads snapped up towards him with a simultaneous "What?"

"Well, if you look at it logically, it could be the best course of action," the demon explained casually, like he wasn't holding a monster- killing gun at the pair of them. "It would make the angel easier to work with, being shot and all. No energy for rebellion. Plus, it makes time more of an issue for the siblings. So really, it all works out in my favor." His head tilted to the other side, considering. "Unless you die, but then I'm not really any worse off than when I started."

Gabriel stared at him. His eyes widened during the course of his speech. Then he slipped wordlessly behind Dean, tiny fingers curling in the fabric of the hunter's jeans.

Dean set a hand on the kid's head, offering a wry smile. "You'd make a horrible human shield anyway, unless he was aiming for my knees."

Gabe returned the look, tears building in his eyes, before burying his face against the side of Dean's leg.

Crowley rolled his eyes. "I was."

Then he fired. Dean cringed, and felt Gabriel cling to him harder. But he didn't feel any pain. Maybe he was in shock? That would be a small blessing at least.

Crowley's voice brought him out of his thoughts. "What are you doing here?"

Confused, Dean peeked an eye open. There was a man standing between Crowley and them who definitely hadn't been there before. From the back, all he could see was a head of short, light blond hair and a dark suit.

Angels.

"Oh, you know, just passing by, figured I'd drop in for a little chat," The man shook his coat out, the bullet clinking against the wood as it hit the floor. He tapped his chest. "Not to mention testing out a little heavenly kevlar. Magical guns that kill supernatural creatures? There's a heaven- weapon for that."

He turned to Dean with a smirk. "Saving Cassie's pet human was just a lovely bonus."

Dean frowned, opening his mouth to stay something, but Gabriel beat him to it, peering around Dean's leg.

"Balthazar?"

Blue eyes fell to the kid, smug look all but knocked off his face. "Gabriel?"

"Long story," Dean replied, "Crowley--" 

"--is taking his leave, thank you." The demon tipped his head and was gone before anyone could stop him.

"Dammit," Dean grumbled, but he couldn't really be too upset. Gabriel was safe, the angels were here and he hadn't gotten shot.  
That was a pretty good day as far as Winchesters went.

The Balthazar guy, meanwhile, had crouched down, studying Gabriel with glee. "You're tiny, Gabes, what happened? Well... tiniER, anyway."

"Oh, cuz no one's said that before, thanks." Gabriel rolled his eyes.

"So, not that I'm not grateful," Dean rubbed at his temple, where a spectacular headache was blooming, "but who the hell are you and if you're not here for Gabe, why ARE you here?"

"Because I sent him here," a familiar voice growled. Dean recognized that particular grate anywhere.

"Cas!"

Suddenly there were two more people in the room. Castiel, in all his awkward, trenchcoated glory. And a blond woman with her hair tied neatly back and a suit varied enough to suggest to Dean she was a little less of a douche than the other angels.

"Dean," Cas greeted with a slight nod. "This is Rachel. And you've already met Balthazar."

"Yeah, I guess." He looked over to the back corner of the messy office, where Balthazar was still playing with Gabriel, grinning as he poked at the archangel's tiny, waving arms.

Castiel followed the gaze, his brows furrowing in a confused look.

"You have a child now?"

"What?" Dean snapped his eyes back to Cas, staring widely. "No, no! Dude, that's your brother!"

The angel's frown deepened, studying the child. Finally a hint of surprise lit in his eyes. "Gabriel?"

The boy looked up as his name was uttered, smiling broadly. "Hey bro."

Castiel looked from Gabriel to Dean, then back and forth again for good measure. "You're going to have to explain this."

oOoOo

Once the group was situated at the nearest hotel-- Dean and Gabriel driving, since the hunter wasn't in the mood for internal damages-- the pair of them explained everything that had happened in the past few days.

By the time they'd finished, Gabe was looking pretty tired. He sat on the bed, propped up against Dean's side, looking for all the world like a three year- old after a busy day, in need of a nap.

Cas couldn't stop staring at him. He frowned throughout their story. But it was his thinking frown, Dean noted, not his 'I need to smite something' frown.

Rachel sat primly in the chair, listening intently. She didn't really talk much, the hunter noticed. Balthazar talked enough for all three of them, though. The most at ease in his vessel, he leaned against the dresser, offering comments whenever a thought struck him.

"So what do you think?" Dean asked finally, looping an arm casually around Gabe as the boy nodded off. "There's a way to fix this, right?"

He wanted a solution for Gabriel's sake. Because Gabriel didn't want to stay in the form he was in. But maybe there was a tiny, selfish part of Dean that thought, 'if there's no way to undo it, he'd stay with you. You'd have someone to watch out for again'.

But Dean Winchester usually never gave into that selfish little voice.

"There should be," Cas responded, "if we take him back to Heaven, transfer a bit of our grace to him to jump start his own. Between the three of us, it should be enough to let his own return. Then he can change forms as he wishes once again."

Dean nodded. He scooped the kid up, now fully asleep, and handed him off to Rachel as she stood. Both her and Balthazar were gone with the sound of rustling feathers, and Castiel moved to join them.

"Hey Cas, hold up a second..."

The angel tilted his head. "Yes Dean?"

"Where have you been, man? You up and disappear while I was at Lisa's, then show up out of the blue months later? Did I piss you off or something? What gives?"

"We're at war," Cas replied, staring hard at the hunter. "I apologize for not contacting you sooner."

Dean was taken aback. "War? With who? What's going on?"

"Raphael has decided the only way to proceed is to follow Michael's last orders. Which were to bring Paradise to Earth. I've been put in charge of the rebellion. Balthazar and Rachel have been most helpful, but the fight... isn't going well. With Gabriel to help, this shifts things to a more equal level. We actually may stand a chance now.

"Wow, okay," Dean flopped back on the bed. "So how'd you know to swoop in right at that moment?"

Castiel almost looked like he might smile. "Balthazar intercepted a prayer with your name in it. He luckily brought it to me."

"My name?"

"Something along the lines of 'Winchester's going to get his dumb ass shot because of me, why don't you morons pay attention for once and get your feathery asses down here and save us'. It was... fairly effective."

Gabriel. Of course. He was human right now, his prayers worked the same as any other human. He probably could have called  
Castiel from the start. He would be pissed if he'd realized they were listening the whole time. 

Castiel stood. "I should go. Rachel and Balthazar will need my help in restoring Gabriel's grace."

Dean glanced at him, but made no move to get up. He didn't get shot, but he'd still gotten knocked around. He deserved a little rest. "Yeah sure. You gonna be around, now that your war's equaling out? You know I'm here if you need me."

The angel nodded. "Thank you. I will try to be in contact with you more often."

He was gone before Dean could reply. Feeling slightly better about things, and at the same time worse, he kicked his boots off, turned over and promptly fell asleep.

oOoOo

The room was dark when he woke up. He looked around, trying to figure out what had roused him.

A figure by the foot of the bed had him reaching instinctively for the knife under his pillow, but the familiar chuckle stopped him. He relaxed, letting out a yawn.

"So I see you're back to normal."

Gabriel stepped out of the shadows, throwing his once- again- adult- sized self bodily on the bed and jarring Dean further out of sleep. "Yup. Although I'm on strict orders not to do anything particularly archangelic for awhile, so I can build up strength."

"Somehow I don't think you'll be following those orders very well."

He grinned, snapping up a bag of gummi worms. "Whatever gave you that idea?"

They were quiet for a few moments. Dean sat up with a drawn- out stretch, and Gabe ate a few worms. Finally Dean spoke up again. "You think you'll be able to stop Raph from doing his thing?"

"Yeah, I got it covered. Me and Raph are a lot more equal on the scale. Not like Luce. And we both know it. He's just kinda messed up right now, cuz he's the only archangel left and he doesn't know what to do. It's sort of the angel equivalent to the company firing all the managers over the weekend and expecting you to run the place when you come in on Monday. I'll help him out."

Dean nodded. He'd been worried, when Cas had told him. Mostly because Cas was an honorary Winchester at this point, and if he was fighting a losing battle he was bound to do something stupidly crazy.

Gabriel pulled at a particularly stretchy worm, gnawing at it while he geared himself up to speak. "So I uh, wanted to say thanks. For, y'know, everything back there. It got kinda out of hand."

"You think?" he replied with no real bite. Mostly he was just too tired to feel angry at this point. 

"Well, I'm sorry, okay? I figured, if anyone could help, Crowley would. So long as I could put a good deal on the table. Me and him go back."

"Yeah, well I'm guessing he was feeling a little cagey, being the demon all the other demons hate, not to mention being stuck in an angelic war and all." Dean rolled his eyes and Gabriel threw a worm at him.

"Anyway, I just wanted to let you know, for what it's worth, I think standing between a kid and a gun qualifies you as a damned good guardian."

Dean shrugged, popping the candy into his mouth. "Been doing it my whole life. I'm sorry I didn't take this whole thing seriously, I guess. You should've told me what was going on. Guess I got caught up in having someone around to take care of. It's been awhile since I did that."

"Apology accepted," Gabriel snapped the bag away, laying back with his arms folded behind his head. "You should get some sleep. Big day tomorrow."

"What are you talking about? I thought you said the thing with Raph was no big deal...?"

"It's not. But the next mission is a little different. And I figure since you're not terribly busy, you could help out."

"Gabe--"

"After all, someone's gonna need to take care of Sammich when we get him back."

Dean stopped short. "...What?"

The archangel smirked. "You heard me. Someone's gotta get the kid back before he finds a way to do it himself and screw it up. It's not gonna be easy, even when he's back. But it's better than leaving him there with the family. So I'm gonna need someone to make sure he's okay. You up for it?"

Dean couldn't help it, he laughed. "Yeah, I think I got that one covered."

"Good," Gabriel stood, hands in his pockets and a bright grin on his face. "So get some sleep. Tomorrow we're busting Sam out of the Cage."


End file.
